Why is this an issue?
Having two branches in an IF/ELSE IF chain with the same implementation is at best duplicate code, and at worst a coding
error.
If the same logic is truly needed for both instances, then in an IF chain they should be combined.
Noncompliant code example
IF @SortOrder = 1
BEGIN
SET @SortOrder = 0
SELECT LastName FROM Employees ORDER BY LastName
END
ELSE IF @SortOrder = 2
BEGIN
SET @SortOrder = 0
SELECT LastName FROM Employees ORDER BY LastName -- Noncompliant
END
ELSE
BEGIN
SET @SortOrder = -1
SELECT LastName FROM Employees
END
GO
Exceptions
Branches in an IF/ELSE IF chain with implementation that contains a single line of code are ignored.
IF @SortOrder = 1
BEGIN
SELECT LastName FROM Employees ORDER BY LastName
END
ELSE IF @SortOrder = 2
BEGIN
SELECT LastName FROM Employees
END
ELSE
BEGIN
SELECT LastName FROM Employees ORDER BY LastName -- No issue, usually this is done on purpose to increase the readability
END
GO
But this exception does not apply to IF chains without ELSE-s when all branches have the same single line of code. In
case of IF chains with ELSE-s rule {rule:tsql:S3923} raises a bug.
IF @SortOrder = 1 -- Noncompliant, this might have been done on purpose but probably not
BEGIN
SELECT LastName FROM Employees ORDER BY LastName
END
ELSE IF @SortOrder = 2
BEGIN
SELECT LastName FROM Employees ORDER BY LastName
END
GO
